If you didn't know, here's how the Super-LumiNova™, LumTec™, and NociLuma™ work. They are all compounds of strontium aluminate. They all function the same way. The do not glow on their own like the old Tritium and Radium compounds. These two older compounds glow on their own as they give off radiation. You didn't need to charge them, they just glowed on their own. These radioactive compounds are now very tightly controlled by the governments and are not painted onto watch dials anymore. Tritium tubes are used in some watches, but only in the little tubes, and they limit the design of the dials. I digress.
Back to the Super-LumiNova and other lumes. They need to be charged by sunlight or artificial light like a small florescent bulb. A lumed watch with these compounds can be fully charged after being out in the sun for 15 minutes, or it can be fully charged after being placed under a florescent bulb for about 30 seconds. Once charged, these dials glow very brightly, much brighter than the old tritium or radium did. When I take my photos of the glowing watches, it is always after they have been fully charged.
Now... here's what happens with the lume after its been fully charged. For the first 4-5 minutes, it glow brightly. When you walk into a dimly lit room after having been outside, you will be amazed how brightly your watch glows. The larger the indice, the brighter it glows. More surface area covered in lume the more it glows. Smaller indices and very narrow arabics don't glow as brightly as large circles. Back to the glow attributes....after about 6-8 minutes the glow pretty rapidly dimishes to about 50% of the original brightness. Heres the important part...then over the next 8-10 hours, the glow very, very, very gradually lessons. Therefore a good lume job, after a full charge at 10pm, you can still read the time at 5 am.
